Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 4051711" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter 21, "Exiting the Lordholding," July 21st, 1005: Augusta urges the group to leave as quickly as possible. They put on choir robes, and exit the church. They head directly to the city gates, where they bribe the two men on duty to let them leave. They explain that they are pilgrims on a time-sensitive pilgrimage for their church. They get a short distance away and then ditch the robes and hike westward for several hours. They stop for lunch, meeting up with an actual group of Yon pilgrims on their way to an outdoor shirne, with a high holy day being the next day. Hherrmyie comments “Wow! You mean that bull we through around was actually legit?” During the lunch the group is attacked by nine wolves. The group kills four of them, and others run off. The pilgrims are very appreciative, and give the group extra food and water. By evening the group is nearing the town of Gelorynth. They decide to avoid it completely, and circumnavigate around the town, then proceed westward along the main road. At dusk they are attacked by a group of fifteen men from the bandit camp. This time the group fights back, which the bandits are not expecting. All of the bandits are soon killed. Klaaze and Hherrmyie try to talk the group into going and "kicking some more bandit butt." Kharole and Serita point out that the group is too close to finishing their mission to go off to an unnessary fight. The discussion is unresolved, and they group decides to stop for the night. July 22nd, 1005: Kharole and Serita take the first watch. Hherrmyie and Mark take the second watch. Hherrmyie manages to convince his half-elf friend that the group owes it to the bandits to go back and get them. Klaaze and Tao take the next watch. Klaaze also manages to sway his friend as to the merits of a return engagement. Klaaze goes to wake up Natasha and Phuddi for the final watch. Natasha says that she is already awake, and if they are really serious about the attack then they had better move now, as dawn would be the best time. Nat, Tao and Klaaze wake up Mark and Hherrmyie. The five head off, leaving Serita, Kharole, Lysdashi and Phuddi behind. [DM’s Note #32: At the start of the next game the two who objected to attacking the bandits the prior week were among the four absent that week, so the others decided to go for it. It was a macho hack-and-slash night, as all three of the female players were not present.] They approach the eastern gate of the camp. Natasha and Tao take out the five men on guard duty. The group climbs over the wall, and head to the first building, which is an armory. They stock up on weapons, including some of their own which had been confiscated eight weeks earlier. They then hit the next building, the prison. They free the four remaining prisoners, a fop fighter named James, a harlot named Kara, dwarf fighter named Boz, and an assassin named Garth. They then hit a row of barracks, killing all sleeping occupants. The next building is the kitchen and dining room. The cooks are killed, and since no alarms have been sounded yet the group stops briefly for a warm breakfast. The five adventurers tell the rescued prisoners to wait there. Garth insists on coming along, and the group moves on to what appears to be the main building in the camp. Natasha, Garth and Tao climb the roof, and sneak over to the main doorway. They kill the guards outside, then knock on the door. The inside guards open the door, to be backstabbed by Nat and Garth from above. Hherrmyie, Mark and Klaaze then enter the building. The group enters a main room, housing a man who Klaaze recognizes from his previous imprisonment here as being the camp's second-in-command. A major battle follows, during which the man is slain. The battle also manages to wake up all other occupants in the buildings, so the group soon finds themselves surrounded. They split up, each one taking on a group of four to eight men. Natasha and Tao wind up using their climbing skills to retreat, and Garth is killed. Mark is able to take out eleven men singlehandedly. Klaaze is soon brought down to single-digit hit points. Hherrmyie and Mark finish with their foes and come to Klaaze's rescue. Hherrmyie asks Klaaze why he didn't use the Rod. Klaaze replies "Because I was saving it for him," and points to the bandit camp leader who has just entered the room. Klaaze once more utters his improvised command words "DIE, YOU BASTARD." The rest of the group attempt to dive for cover to avoid the Rod’s prime power backlash as the bolt of light shoots into the bandit leader, turning him into a pile of jelly. The backlash also kills twelve other bandits who were accompanying the leader. The remaining twenty men turn and run. The group chases them outside, then switches to bows and starts dropping them. Four bandits get to the horses and ride off. The group mount horses to follow them, but are soon lured by the bandits into traps which allow the bandits time to escape. The party ride back to the camp. They search the camp throughly, finding a magic sword, several potions, and about 19,000 gold pieces worth of jewelry, gems, and coinage. James and Kara take two of the horses and ride off. Boz decides to accompany the party. They take ten horses, and ride off to rejoin their party. [DM’s Note #33: Up until this point there had been no dwarven playing characters. One of the players picked up the NPC Boz during the battle and enjoyed the character, so decided to keep him.] When they get back Phuddi, Lysdashi, Serita, and Kharole are very upset at the others going off without them. They are however, grateful that they now all have horses to ride. A few miles down the road the group is set upon by yet another group of bandits from this camp. Thirteen bandits are slain, with three riding off back to their camp. "Those three are in for one heck of a surprise when they get home," comments Hherrmyie. The group reaches the Thenossia Lordholding border by nightfall. Next: The Conclusion</blockquote>

Verification